Valve’s Steam Deck now has more than 7,100 games that have been verified or are considered playable. Per SteamDB (via Tech4Gamers) the portable gaming console has hit a new milestone and the number of games on the list continues to grow. As of the writing of this article, the grand total now sits at 7,128 with 4,419 that are considered playable and 2,709 that have been verified.
One of the things that makes these numbers so impressive is that the Steam Deck is still less than a year old as it launched on February 25, 2022. Gabe Newell even assisted in delivering a handful of the first batch to a few lucky people. Like so many other tech devices launched in recent years, the Steam Deck experienced its own challenges with immediate availability due to supply chain issues but it did not take too long for Valve to overcome those challenges. By June it was announced the shipments would double.
Steam Deck First Year Highlights
- February 25 – The release date and the first batch of reviews are call it an overwhelming success for Valve and gamers
- February 28 – Valve releases promo video of Gabe Newell hand delivering some of the first batches to customers
- June 27 – Valve announces that it will begin doubling the number of shipped units every week
- June 29 – Valve confirms that some Steam Decks (256 GB and 512 GB models) may ship with a PCIe Gen3 drive vs the previously advertised PCIe Gen4 drives and claims they will not impact performance.
- August – The FPS Review publishes its own review by John Tharp.
- September – Another milestone is passed as the number of shipped units once again surpasses estimates and Valve says orders placed by September 19 will arrive between then and December.
- October – Following multiple third-party launches Valve announces its own Steam Deck Dock that features 3x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 ports, a USB-C port for power, DisplayPort, HDMI, and a Gigabit Ethernet port and begins taking preorders for $89.00.
- December 15 – Steam Deck designers reveal in an interview that they are focusing on adding more features and improvements to the portable gaming console rather than rushing out a new variant with minimally improved hardware.
- December 31 – The Steam Deck now has more than 7,100 games that are verified or playable.
The ecosystem grows
New developments for the gaming console would occur almost monthly as Valve’s engineers and designers responded to input from customers and developers and added new features or refined existing ones. During this time competitors began announcing their next-gen versions featuring a newer AMD APU but Steam Deck designers state they are not focused on using the same since the next processor only offers a minimal improvement but they are interested in working with other companies to utilize the Steam Deck’s OS.
Further strengthening its open-source approach, third-party companies begin shipping a variety of accessories for the Steam Deck ranging from docks, storage drives, memory cards, fan upgrades, back covers, and more. All of this helps to quickly fill the Steam Deck ecosystem with many options for owners to customize their system.